Sesame Database Manager is compatible with Symantec Q&A. Q & A users will find that Sesame uses many of the same keystrokes, the same search syntax, and almost the same programming syntax as used in a Q&A database. Sesame can also translate Q&A databases. Find out more.

Lantica Software is an alliance of consultants specializing in database application development for the SOHO market. Over the last five years, Bill Halpern, president of Lantica, began to see that the specific market he was serving was being abandoned by the software development community. He felt it essential to find or create a DBMS that could be operated by customers without requiring constant support, intervention, and maintenance by programmers and DBMS professionals.

According to Bill Halpern, "Most of the newer DBMS systems built for PCs seem to be designed for corporations that can afford to keep programmers on staff. My customers are small business owners, or individual users, with no interest in learning how to program and insufficient resources to maintain a computer staff." To address these needs Bill has, in the past, deployed applications using the DOS based program from Symantec, Q&A. Q&A still commands a substantial following and user loyalty, largely because it does fill that niche. But technical pressures to port these users to a more modern system has been increasing with each passing year. "These people are not just customers to me," says Halpern, "They are my friends. I've worked with some of my customers for over fifteen years. They trust me. I cannot port them to any of the newer systems in good conscience. The tools are just too complex, too hard to use."

Developing a system first and foremost for the SOHO market seemed to be the only reasonable alternative. So, Bill founded Lantica for that purpose, inviting some of the best application developers for a lengthy analysis of what made Q&A so good and kept it thriving in the SOHO market so long. Then, with requirements in hand, Bill gathered a development team with members from four US states and two European countries, to build that system.

That system, code named "Sesame" is currently in its second round of Beta testing. Alec Mulvey, founder of Keyword Software - a consulting company specializing in Q&A application development and training in the U.K. is the organizing force behind the Sesame beta test effort: "We developed a pool of Beta testers from the market we are trying to address - mostly small business owners, departmental databases users, etc. The testing is going extremely well."

With only two more rounds of Beta testing scheduled, and all of the major components nearing completion, Sesame is poised to fill the void in the market for an easy to use, easy to configure database system for the small business user.